title: Novel 5' fusion partners of ETV1 and ETV4 in prostate cancer.
abstract: Gene fusions involving the erythroblast transformation-specific (ETS) transcription factors ERG, ETV1, ETV4, ETV5, and FLI1 are a common feature of prostate carcinomas (PCas). The most common upstream fusion partner described is the androgen-regulated prostate-specific gene TMPRSS2, most frequently with ERG, but additional 5' fusion partners have been described. We performed 5' rapid amplification of cDNA ends in 18 PCas with ETV1, ETV4, or ETV5 outlier expression to identify the 5' fusion partners. We also evaluated the exon-level expression profile of these ETS genes in 14 cases. We identified and confirmed by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction the two novel chimeric genes OR51E2-ETV1 and UBTF-ETV4 in two PCas. OR51E2 encodes a G-protein-coupled receptor that is overexpressed in PCas, whereas UBTF is a ubiquitously expressed gene encoding an HMG-box DNA-binding protein involved in ribosome biogenesis. We additionally describe two novel gene fusion combinations of previously described genes, namely, SLC45A3-ETV4 and HERVK17-ETV4. Finally, we found one PCa with TMPRSS2-ETV1, one with C15orf21-ETV1, one with EST14-ETV1, and two with 14q133-q21.1-ETV1. In nine PCas (eight ETV1 and one ETV5), exhibiting ETS outlier expression and genomic rearrangement detected by FISH, no 5' fusion partner was found. Our findings contribute significantly to characterize the heterogeneous group of ETS gene fusions and indicate that all genes described as 5' fusion partners with one ETS gene can most likely be rearranged with any of the other ETS genes involved in prostate carcinogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Portuguese Oncology Institute, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: João D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Barros-Silva
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Paulo
authors.forename: Anne Cathrine
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Bakken
authors.forename: Nuno
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cerveira
authors.forename: Marthe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Løvf
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Henrique
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jerónimo
authors.forename: Ragnhild A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Lothe
authors.forename: Rolf Inge
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Skotheim
authors.forename: Manuel R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Teixeira
mesh_terms: D017500:Adenovirus E1A Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion / Q000235:genetics*; D035463:Pol1 Transcription Initiation Complex Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D050783:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ets; D018035:Receptors, Odorant / Q000235:genetics; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D017500:Adenovirus E1A Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C095239:ETV1 protein, human; C079853:ETV4 protein, human; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; C417566:OR51E2 protein, human; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion; D035463:Pol1 Transcription Initiation Complex Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D050783:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ets; D018035:Receptors, Odorant; D014157:Transcription Factors; C063844:transcription factor UBF